Mass Effect: Perspectives
by MrCrispy94
Summary: My take on Mass Effect 2. Starting from Purgatory as the beginning of the game can be a bit slow. Jack/Shep
1. Chapter 1

Hi Everyone, this is going to be only my 2nd fan fiction so please review, positive and constructive feedback is welcomed.

Disclaimer - I don't own the rights to Mass Effect, the characters or story lines. (In case you didn't know)

This is going to be a run through of Mass Effect 2 focusing more on the interactions between characters during and between missions. Starting from the Prison ship Purgatory. There will be SHEP/JACK romance as she is by far my favourite romance option in the game(s). I will see how Mass Effect 2 goes and i may go into ME3. Please be aware that the story is subject to change and will not necessarily follow the exact arc from the games.

 **Chapter 1: Purgatory Escape**

"Shepherd, if you hack that control every door in the cell block opens" Garrus said, a tone of fear in his voice as he spoke.

"However, required if we want to get Jack out of stasis" replied Mordin, over his other shoulder.

"I'm doing it. Be ready" Shepherd said as he hit the keys on the security panel in front of them. As he did a large hydraulic arm began to move on the wall of the containment area below them, 3 YMIR mechs powered up and looked around at the arm, now lifting a stasis pod out of the ground . Steam hissed from the valves on the cryo chamber as the large metal casing began it's ascent from icy storage. Inside was a female, still partially frozen. She had a shaved head and had a tattoo wrapped around the back of her head. Actually she had tattoos all over her body. She was wearing a thin leather strap which barely covered her chest, a pair of orange trousers and black boots, strapped all the way up her legs.

"That's Jack?" The turians mandibles clicked as he watched.

Looking through the steam in the room below Shepherd was trying to focus on the frozen captive. The 3 mechs were now in a combat stance facing her. He could just about make out her right hand beginning to move as she was regaining consciousness. Then her expression changed, from confusion to anger, she ripped her right arm from out of the restraints and attempted to break the one around her neck. Reaching over to her right hand the prisoner pulled the other arm free and again pulled at the neck brace. It snapped and she stumbled down the steps to her pod, almost losing her balance.

The mechs began to move in and surround her. Shepherd leant in closer, trying to see over the edge of the platform he was standing on. A bright blue aura enveloped Jack as she tore straight through her mechanical prison guards. The room Garrus, Mordin and Shepherd were standing in shook violently as the biotic ripped through the wall below them.

"We have to get down there!" shouted Garrus.

With a nod, Shepherd pointed to the door on the far side of the room. Without a word the three of them readied their weapons and made for the exit. Shepherd hit the manual door release and it slid open. They rushed down the stairs as the sound of gunfire and explosions could be heard off in the distance. As they reached the bottom of the stairs Shepherd noticed the large flaming hole in the wall.

"You think she went through here?" Shepherd said, making his way over to the new doorway.

"Yes Shepherd, where else would she ha..." Garrus replied cutting himself off mid flow as he saw Shepherd turned to look at him with smile on his face. "...another fine example of human 'sarcasm'?" he sighed.

"We'll get you up to speed on day Garrus". Shepherd squeezed his way past the fire and into the corridor behind the wall.

The loudspeaker system kicked in and the prison warden's voice was ringing throughout the station. " **All Guards: Restore order! Lethal force authorized! But don't kill Jack! Tecs: Lockdown, Lockdown!** " the panic in the wardens voice very clear to hear.

"Jack, very powerful biotic, very valuable, no sense killing her, can recruit more security, cannot recruit more Jack" Mordin said as the trio made their way through the corridor, a bright orange light flickering on the right hand side wall indicated another puncture point. Another voice, automated this time, started to broadcast over the speaker.

" **Sectors seven, nine and eleven have lost life support. No survivors** "

"Spirits..." Garrus sighed "Are you sure we want her on the Normandy Shepherd?"

"Prisoner went berserk, Garrus concerns warranted, could be problematic on Normandy" Mordin chimed in.

"She'll be one hell of an ally though. I'll even let her have my quarters if it sweetens the deal" Shepherd replied.

They turned through the second hole in the wall, it entered into a cell block, the one they'd seen on the way in. There was fire everywhere, several cells were strewn around the room. Shepherd could make out several guards fighting escaped prisoners in the walkway overhead.

The wardens voice was back over the speakers. " **All prisoners return to your cells immediately or i'll open every airlock on this ship** "

Up ahead 3 guards were fighting off several armed prisoners when Shepherds earpiece crackled.

" ** _Shepherd, the warden has locked down the area behind you. You must find another exit route_** "

"Thanks EDI, any ideas?" replied Shepherd.

" ** _I would suggest following the large explosions and biotic disturbances from your new friend_** "

"We're not friends just yet EDI but thanks. Alright Garrus, Mordin, move out"

* * *

Jack could hear the blood pumping around her body, her rage building with every kill. Ahead of her, down the corridor was her way out, freedom. She was running as fast as her legs could carry her.

"STOP!" A turian guard emerged from around the doorway, eyes fixed on her as she approached. He then appeared to instantly regret stepping out in front of her as a blue hue wrapped itself around her. He felt his legs lift up off of the ground just before he was thrown across the railing and into a wall.

Jack stepped forward smiling. She hadn't had a rush like that in some time. Looking out of the large window she saw the massive frigate docked and seemingly ready to leave. Looking it up and down the small logo on the front of the craft caught her attention.

"Cerberus". Every muscle in her body tightened. Her anger was now boiling over, she thrashed at the air around her, screaming. Then she noticed blue suns mercenary had been sneaking up on her. Before she could react his head exploded. She turned to see Shepherd holding a smoking pistol, his Turian and Salarian friends behind him. Jack studied the three soldiers very carefully, certainly an unlikely trio, especially as Cerberus hated aliens. Shepherd relaxed his arm and holstered his weapon.

"What the hell do you want?!" she shouted towards Shepherd. Venom in her voice.

"You're in a bad situation, and I'm going to get you out of here" came the calm response from the commander

"Shit, you sound like a pussy" Jack spat back at him. "I'm not going anywhere with you. You're Cerberus"

"I'm here to ask for your help" He tried to remained calm, the knowledge of her power keeping him from raising his voice. He knew this was a volatile situation and planned on not letting it explode.

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere. You think I'm stupid?"

"This ship is going down in flames" He knew they didn't have long to get off the ship. "We can get you to safety, and we're asking for your help."

"We could just knock her out and take her" Garrus muttered from behind Shepherd.

"I'd like to see you try" Jack snarled back as a shimmer of blue appeared in her hand.

"We're not going to attack her" sighed Shepherd, glaring at Garrus over his shoulder. "Do you want her to kick our ass?"

"Look, you want me to come with you? Make it worth my while" Jack said, crossing her arms.

"Join my team and i'll do what i can for you"

"Don't make promises you can't keep" she replied, clearly distrusting Shepherds words "I bet your ship's got loads of Cerberus databases. I want to have a look at those files. See what Cerberus has on me" she took a step towards Shepherd. "You want me on your team, let me go through those databases"

Shepherd looked at Jack, she was standing around a foot away from her, from this close he noticed how pretty her face was, all things considered, being locked up in a prison for so long, she looked really good.

"Hey, jackass. You listening to me?" Jack snapped hr fingers in Shepherds face. He hadn't realised he was just standing staring at her for a good few seconds

"Err, yeah, you can have whatever you like" he stuttered.

Jack smiled and turned to walk away, the Salarian and Turian started after her. Shepherd just stood, motionless, watching his newest team member walk off. Garrus walked past him smiling...

"Good to see Cerberus hasn't changed your old romantic ways" he chuckled.

"I think you're just jealous I never look at you like that" Shepherd laughed along. He gave the Turian a push as they set off for the Normandy. As they reached the door to the airlock Garrus leant over and whispered...

" _Williams used to look at me like that_ " and winked at Shepherd.

* * *

Authors Note;

Ok, so this was actually going to be my least favourite part of the whole thing, im not even sure why i did it. You've already seen it, you've played it, it's hard to add much to what is already a mission in the game. The next chapter wont follow word for word like a lot of this did.

Anyway, please review and let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there. So Chapter 2, this is where i can kinda tell the story how i want. Im hoping to be a bit better with the updating than i was for my L4D story. This game does give much wider scope for making it your own though.

Disclaimer: Despite my best wishes. I don't own Mass Effect, i don't own the characters or the storylines they have written. :(

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

Shepherd opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling in his captains quarters he groaned and rubbed his eyes. The bright orange clock on his bedside table was flashing the time at him. _5:48am_. He waved his arm in the air and the cabin slowly filled with light. He sat up on the edge of his bed, placing his head in his hands. He'd had that dream again, ever since Cerberus had rebuilt him that dream would haunt him at least once a week.

They were back on Virmire, under heavy fire from all sides. The geth had them pinned down behind cover when he heard Kaidan over the comms tell him to save Ashley while he made sure the bomb went off. It always got to the same part when he woke up, watching the bomb detonate from the Normandy would jolt him awake every time.

Back in his quarters he sighed again and stood up, he walked over to his bathroom door and it silently slid open.

"Cold shower EDI" he spoke out, seemingly to himself.

" ** _Of course Shepherd_** "

He stepped into the shower as the rush of cold water hit his face, it stole the breath from his lungs as the first stream hit his neck and ran down his back. He just stood there, leaning against the icy wall with both hands. After a couple of minutes, without a word, the water began to warm up and he pushed himself up off of the wall to clean himself.

He snatched a towel off of the rail and wrapped it around his waist. He sat down at his private terminal and looked through his messages.

 _[2 unread messages]_

 _[Subject: Encrypted]_

 _[Subject: 22 places on the Citadel the Council don't want you to see. Number 10 will amaze you]_

He deleted the latter and made a mental note to find out how he was getting so many junk emails. Clicking down he opened the encrypted message, by now he knew that these messages were from The Illusive Man. It read;

' _Shepherd,_

 _I understand that you have granted Jack access to our information archives. If this is true i think we need to have a chat about Cerberus policy. Whilst this is your mission, allowing a fugitive to read all of our files may not be the wisest move._

 _I trust you will still be able to complete the mission._

 _T.I.M_ '

He chuckled to himself as he saw the name T.I.M at the bottom and deleted the message. He stood up and made his way over to his clothes stand and got changed.

* * *

The CIC was quiet, only Kelly Chambers was in there tapping away at her terminal.

"Did you actually go to bed Chambers?" Shepherd spoke softly, it was still very early.

"I did commander, I don't really need that much sleep" She replied, turning and smiling at the still groggy looking commander. "Plus, searching for the collectors is much more fun than lying in bed".

Shepherd liked Kelly, she was fun, bubbly and always had a positive outlook on everything, that was something that seemed to be lacking in the galaxy at this time. Her vibrant orange hair falling gently on the side of her chirpy smiling face. Not to mention how helpful she was, Shepherd had never realised how difficult is was to keep fish alive before he had her as his Yeoman.

"Is there anything i should know about the crew?" He asked, leaning back against the terminal next to hers.

"I don't think so commander, although, no it's probably nothing to worry about" she turned her head back to the screen and carried on tapping away.

"Really? you really think i'm not going to bite on that" he replied, raising half a smile as he did.

Kelly turned back towards her commander. "It's just, no-one has said a word to Jack since she came aboard. She's been down in maintenance since yesterday and hasn't even been to get food" her usual happy disposition had been replaced with one of concern for her crew mate.

"I'll go and have a talk with her". Shepherd stood up and placed a hand on Chambers' shoulder. "Let me know if you find anything else" he walked off towards the elevator.

One thing he had definitely noticed about the SR2 Normandy is that the elevator was much quicker. It took mere seconds to get to the crew deck from the CIC, on the old ship he would have to plan his entire day around moving between floors. The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. The air was still and there was almost no sound except the faint hissing and bubbling coming from the kitchen. Shepherd made his way around and into the eating area where he saw Mess Sergeant Gardner slaving away with preparing breakfast for the crew.

"Hey, Gardner, anything ready yet? I gotta eat" he called out as he approached the chef.

"I got some eggs already done, toast should pop up any second, was going to have it myself but you can take it. Wont take me a minute to get some more" he replied, looking over his shoulder at his CO. "You're up early" he continued.

"Yeah, can't sleep" Shepherd responded, watching over the toaster. "It's incredible isn't it? We can jump from the Artemis Tau cluster to Hades Gamma in the same time it takes bread to become toast". Gardner laughed and turned back to his cooking.

A few moments passed "Commander, could i ask you something?"

"Shoot" came the response from Shepherd, now putting a couple of eggs onto the toast.

"Is there anyway a spectre like yourself could request better produce for the ship, the stuff Cerberus gives me to work with is awful. I feel like on a mission like this the crew deserve to eat something that tastes better than Elcor ass."

"Only you could know what that would taste like Gardner" Shepherd looked up at him, a smile across his face.

"You know what i mean commander" Gardner replied, trying to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, yeah, i'll see what i can do next time im on the citadel." With that he grabbed cutlery from one of the drawers and picked up his plate of food. He walked back towards the elevator.

* * *

The elevator door opened again when it reached the maintenance deck. He made his way through the first set of doors towards the drive room but turned left down the stairs. It was dark down here, the only light source being a dark red hue emanating from below the drive core. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he could also see a desk, small bed and several datapads lying on the floor. It was cold down here, which confused him. It was right below the largest source of heat on the entire ship. As he approached he saw a Jack sitting on the edge of her 'bed' if you could even call it that.

"Hey" he called out. She looked up at him like a wild animal would an unsuspecting creature wandering into it's lair.

"What" she snapped.

"I err.. i brought you some food, you haven't eaten since we got on board, thought you might be hungry" Shepherd said hesitantly..

"I don't need looking after. I'm not a child"

"I never said you were. I look out for my crew, we need each others backs. I can't expect you to be at 100% on an empty stomach can I?" he spoke softly, trying to gain her trust was going to be difficult, but he wanted to try, he needed to try. If they were going to survive this they would all have to be focused and trust each other.

"Well just leave it on the table and I might eat it when I want to." she had now gone back to reading through the datapad.

"You know, you don't have to make this difficult. It doesn't have to be all aggression, all the time" he said while putting the food down on the table.

Jack looked back up at him, her face a picture of irritation. "Most people don't stay around as long as this. They get the message when I say I want to be left alone"

"Well, Im a slow learner" he replied, a smile began to creep onto his face.

"Is this a joke to you? I've asked you to leave me alone"

His face dropped, he'd grown impatient, it was early..."No, it's not a joke. I know it's not a joke. I just don't like members of my team not trusting me. When we land in that shuttle, my life is in your hands, your life is in my hands." Jack sat up, having not expected Shepherd to raise his voice. "I'm not asking you to be my best friend if you don't want to, but i do need you to have trust in me. I'm on your side" He turned away and walked away towards the stairs.

"Thanks Shepherd" came a voice quietly from behind him.

"Don't sweat it" he responded, without looking back, the smile crept back onto his face as he got to the top of the stairs.

* * *

"Commander Shepherd, we're coming up on the relay, where are we headed" Kelly called out when she heard the elevator doors open.

"Tell Joker to plot a course to The Eagle Nebula" he replied

"Yes sir, we will be at the Hourglass Nebula relay in around 1 hour" she beamed.

"Time to go get ourselves a Krogan warlord" Shepherd muttered, under his breath.

* * *

Authors Note - So, 2 Chapters in 1 day and there has been the tiniest amount of action in the story so far.

That will change in the next Chapter as we go to Korlus to find Warlord Okeer!

As always, please review if you have anything to add. All will be taken as constructive.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, Chapter 3. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I've enjoyed writing it and reading the reviews a couple of people have left. So i thank you guys for that.

Disclaimer - Just like yesterday, i don't own any of the rights to Mass Effect, the characters or story lines.

 **Chapter 3:**

From space Korlus looked exactly like it did on the surface, a dull, brown world covered in wreckage and trash. The second planet from the star Imir, it had no orbiting satellites and the atmosphere was thicker than that of Earth. If the Krogan wasn't here then there would be no logical reason to ever step foot on this glorified land fill. If you ever had any doubts about visiting Korlus, then the fact that the planet rates number 2 in the terminus systems for murder per capita should give you an indication.

The team had gathered in the mission control room when Joker had announced they had reached a stable orbit around the planet. Jack was standing the other side of the table to Miranda and Jacob, glaring at them. Mordin was fiddling with his omni-tool and not really paying attention to the conversation between Shepherd and the others. The door opened and the team looked up to see Garrus entering the room.

Shepherd was the first to speak up. "Garrus"

"Shepherd" replied the turian.

"A bit late aren't you?" Miranda said, looking back to the commader

"I was finishing some...err...calibrations" Garrus smiled as he spoke, moving in and taking his place next to Shepherd. During the past couple of weeks it had become apparent to everyone on board that Garrus was the second in command.

"Alright everyone" Shepherd barked "We know the drill. We go in to the south side of the compound, make our way through and find Okeer. Scanners have picked up several other signatures, including Batarian and Turian. It is possible the Blue Suns are here, we keep it quick, simple and clean. Everybody understand?"

"Yes Sir" the entire crew sounded at once.

"Good. Jack, Jacob, you're with me. Garrus, Miranda and Mordin will be in team two. I don't expect to need you on this one but stay in the second shuttle just in case" Shepherd was standing tall and barking out commands with confidence. He knew the stakes of every mission, he'd been there enough times. "Everyone to the shuttle bay and gear up. Wheels up in ten minutes."

The crew shuffled out of the briefing room and into the elevator in the CIC.

* * *

The shuttle hit the ground with a light bump and the side door unfolded. Shepherd, Jack and Jacob stepped down onto the ground. The air was breathable but the smog was thick. Shepherd had insisted on full helmets or breather masks for the mission crew. They'd landed in a wide open street, around 200 yards ahead the road bent off to the right. All around there was debris, broken ship pieces and busted up brickwork. Sharp spikes of rusted metal protruding from all angles. The trio moved forward at a steady pace, staying close together in formation, checking around them for movement.

A voice shouting over a loudspeaker could be heard in the distance, though the message was not clear enough for Shepherd to hear. They rounded the first corner and saw a couple of soldiers wearing full blue armour. Shepherd recognised them immediately as the same Blue Sun mercs he had fought on Omega and the prison ship. He raised his fist to indicate to the other two to stop. He spoke quietly knowing the comms would pick his voice up even at a whisper.

"Two targets, 30 yards, we've got the drop on them"

"Roger that Commander, i've got the one on the right" Jacob responded sharply

"Ok, i'll take the one on the left on my mark...three...two...one...mark" Shepherd squeezed the trigger on his M-3 Predator and watched as the soldiers dropped together. "Good shot Taylor". He moved up towards the cover the mercs had been hiding behind and peered over, as he lifted his head a shot pinged off of the metal barrier he was crouched behind. "CONTACT" he shouted instinctively, ducking back down.

Jack and Jacob dived for cover as the area lit up with gunfire. Shepherd holstered his Predator and went for his assault rifle, in a single movement he unfolded the gun, crouched up from behind cover and placed three shots into the chest of a Batarian mercenary up on the walkway above them, he heard it scream in agony before slumping to the ground motionless. He ducked back down into cover and called over the radio.

"Jack, three contacts, two oclock high." He shouted

The biotic moved out of cover behind the rock column she was behind, her body covered in a transparent blue wave, her face constricted with anger as she let fly a ball of blue energy, perfectly between the three soldiers. The blue glow that was seen around Jack was now around the enemy, their feet lifting off the ground and circling the singularity between them. In unison Jacob and Shepherd stood up and unleashed a hail of bullets into the now helpless mercenaries. The singularity faded and the bodies of the two Batarian and one Turian soldiers dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

Regrouping and reloading the assault crew gathered by a terminal which Shepherd concluded should open the large rusted door at one end of the small enclosure they were in. He hit the door release button and the door creaked loudly before opening.

" **Enlisting is just the beginning. You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building. I Jedore, will start the Blue Sun rule over the Terminus systems, and then the galaxy. You have to fight to be a part of that future.** " the voice from before was now loud enough that it could be heard by the Normandy ground party.

Shepherd led the team through the now open door and into the next large courtyard area. On the ground to the right a wounded mercenary sat propped up against the wall. Swearing and blubbing in agony.

Shepherd approached the man, gun still in hand and grabbed the soldiers hair, yanking his head back so he could look him in the eye.

"What are you doing here!?" he shouted at the man

"I...i've been shot" he stammered

"Not you, the Blue Suns!" He spat back, raising his pistol to the mercs forehead

"Jedore...she wants the Krogan...she wants his army...please, don't kill me, i just wanted the credits. I did it for the credits" he began to cry uncontrollably.

"If i were you, i'd find a way to leave your boy scouts club and get out of my way" Shepherd raised his omni-tool and administered some medi-gel to the wound on the mans chest. "Alright you two" he said, standing up and looking at Jack and Jacob. "Move out".

They started at a brisk jog towards the source of Jedore's Voice.

* * *

After a few minutes they had reached the entrance to what looked like a frigate, hollowed out, stripped for parts and left to rust on the planets surface. The loudspeaker announcements were still coming in frequently. Inside the abandoned ship gunfire and screams could be heard.

Shepherd approached the door, it was locked.

"EDI, we're going to need another way in" Shepherd said, holding his hand to his right ear.

" ** _Scans indicate that this is the only viable entrance given the time restraints for saving Doctor Okeer_** " While EDI was relaying the message to Shepherd, Jack had started interacting with the lock mechanism on the door. As the AI finished her sentence the door slammed open and the two guys turned to see Jack standing inside.

"Don't worry EDI, we're in" he took his hand away from his ear and hurried inside. "Nice work Jack" he nodded at her as they ran by her and up the first flight of stairs. When they reached the top, the room opened out. On both sides of the party walkways ran along the walls to the far side. There was a wall running around the centre of the chamber ahead of them making a straight run across the room impossible.

"You two go left, I'll go right" Shepherd called out

Jack and Jacob walked slowly to the left hand side of the room, as they reached the wall a sniper shot rang out, Jack ducked into cover but Jacob was too slow, a second shot hit him in the centre of the chest, throwing him backwards.

"Jacob's hit!" Jack called out as he hit the floor

"How bad?" Shepherd called back

Jacob's shield had been completely taken out but it had stopped the bullet penetrating his armour.

"Shields gone, but i'll be alright" he winced, crawling for cover

Over the top of cover Jack searched for the source of the shot and fired off a few rounds in the general direction. Jacob had made his way behind a small box and was waiting for his shield to recharge. Another shot hit the ground next to his leg as he struggled to fit all of his body behind the tiny crate.

"Stay down Cerberus" Jack snapped at Jacob

Once again she looked up over her cover, this time she caught a glimpse of light bounce off of a scope in the distance. Jack held her breath, waiting for the target to reappear. As soon as it did she threw a biotic warp at him, followed up with 5 shots from her Predator.

Jacob unfolded his sniper rifle and rolled out of cover, using Jacks suppressing fire as cover to find aim. His scope traced her blue ball of energy all the way out to the Turian sniper taking aim at the biotic peppering him with shots. He was breathing heavily, unable to control the sway on his crosshairs. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and focusing back down his scope.

"GOT HIM!" Jacob yelled, seconds after the Turians head had turned into a blue mist.

Jack turned and nodded at him as they started off for the other end of the room. Small arms fire was heard from up the stairs. As they realised Shepherd could be in trouble their jog turned into a sprint, they rounded the corner and rushed up the stairs. Shepherd was crouched behind a large metal outcropping by the wall on the next floor up.

"You shouldn't run off like that commander" Jacob yelled, sliding behind a pillar.

"We need to get to Okeer. I'll apologise later. We need to make sure he's alive" Shepherd barked back. He stood up and fired several shots towards a group of mercenaries that had gathered by the stairs to the top floor. He flicked a switch on his assault rifle and launched a concussive shot right towards the middle of the group. As it impacted several body parts were sent flying, the gunfire stopped. Jack let out an instinctive laugh as she saw the exploding soldiers.

Shepherd clicked his rifle back to regular ammo and shifted out of cover. "Remind me to start with that next time" he laughed as they approached the stairs to the lab.

* * *

The warlords lab was quite dark, the only lights coming from orange terminals and the white lights in each of the Krogan tanks. It was brown in here, everything on this planet is brown Shepherd thought to himself. As they made their way to the centre of the room he saw movement on the right hand side, by the window.

A deep voice bellowed out from the figure. "Here you are!, I've watched your progress" the figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a Krogan, noticeably older than most of the Krogan Shepherd had come across.

"You must be doctor Okeer, you don't seem particularly caged" Shepherd replied

"I'm not imprisoned in the way you assume commander Shepherd, Jedore has been threatening me to provide my experimental rejects while i work towards perfection. She is demanding more and more for her army, she grows impatient." He walked over to the large window and stared out. "But now is the time to shed the shackles of the Blue Sun mercenaries. You must kill Jedore, she will stop at nothing to get her hands on this" He pointed at the last remaining Krogan tank. "He is the perfect Krogan, in every way. With this, this grunt, i can cure the genophage and free my people!" the last few words were hard to distinguish as he roared loudly as he spoke.

"Okeer, we'll get Jedore, do you know wher..." As Shepherd was about to finish his question the glass window smashed into a million pieces. Bullets began to rain into the room. He dived into cover below the window. His shield beeping, it had been hit by a few stray shots.

"Jacob, get him out of here." Shepherd shouted.

"I'm going nowhere without my work" Okeer growled. Shepherd knew all too well not to argue with a Krogan.

"Fine, then we need to kill these guys" Raising his head above cover he fired a few shots from his rifle, not at anyone in particular, he couldn't actually make out any Blue Suns, they must have all been in cover. "Ground team to Shuttle two" He called.

"Garrus here, are we a go commander?" The turian replied, Shepherd had learnt to judge his tones of voice over the past few years. He was raring to go.

"Get Miranda to fly, i need you sniping from the side of the shuttle"

"You got it Shepherd, eta 2 minutes" The comms clicked off.

In all of the confusion the team hadn't noticed the door at the far side of the room was now open, a couple of mercenaries had quietly entered the room. One of them, a Turian, unfolded a rocket launcher off of his back and aimed at Shepherd and Jacob, both crouched by the window.

"ROCKET! JUMP!" Shepherd shouted as he leapt from the window down to the floor two stories below. His armour absorbed most of the impact but he had landed on his wrist, which was now throbbing. "Shit, shit, shit" he called. Looking around he saw Jacob climbing back to his feet. _Where's Jack!?_. He looked back up at the window. Jack was standing on the ledge, a biotic bubble protecting her from the bullets flying at her.

"Jack..." he said over the comms "...just drop, i'll catch you" he continued

"I can't. They'll get the Krogan" she replied.

"They'll kill you. We can't do this without you."

Jack hesitated. She couldn't think straight, a thousand things rushing through her mind, but the biotic shield around her was fading. She leaned back and fell, bracing for impact.

...

She landed in Shepherds arms, they both let out a sigh of relief as he lowered her to the ground. Just then the comms signal began to crackle again.

"Commander..." it was Okeer. His voice barely at a whisper. "It's too late to save me, but the tank, he must survive. Finish what i have started. You understand the Krogan better than any human."

Shepherd looked up, he could see the Cerberus shuttle approaching. "Don't do anything stupid, we can still get to you". As he finished the sentence he heard the familiar sound of a Krogan bloodcry coming from the lab above him, followed by several shotgun rounds being discharged.

"NO!" Shepherd cried. He started running for the stairs to his right.

The shuttle lurched to a stop, level with the lab window. The door opened, Garrus was stood ready, sniper raised. Five shots rang out. Five lifeless bodies hit the floor.

"It's clear commander" he muttered "Eight Blue Suns and a Krogan are down"

Shepherd reached the rear entrance to the lab, sure enough, lying on the floor were eight blue suits of armour and Okeer. He'd taken down three soldiers before being overrun. Shepherd knelt down beside the dead warlord. "We won't let you down doctor" he whispered.

Jacob was standing at the foot of the tank. "What are we going to do with this guy?" he asked.

"He comes with us." Shepherd replied, walking to Jacobs side. He reached up his right hand to his ear. "Ground crew to Normandy, we lost Okeer, but we've got a package that needs extraction"

Joker chimed in on the comms "Aye, Aye commander"

Shepherd folded his rifle and placed it on his back. "Lets get off this shithole"

* * *

 **Authors Note: So, we finally get a bit of action going in this story. As i said, it's not exactly the same as the game and i like Shepherd to be a very serious soldier in the heat of battle.**

 **I will probably be looking over this one making a few changes to make sure im happy with it. Apologies for the length of it. As always please let me know what you think.**

 **I always felt that Okeers death wasn't fitting for a Warlord so i gave him a slightly better send off. Hope you enjoy.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

The door to the maintenance bay opened with it's usual hiss and Shepherd stepped through. He was determined to talk with Jack today, he'd taken her on the mission, even saved her life. She owed him some time to talk to her. The familiar chill of the room greeting him with every step of his descent into the dimly lit area below the maintenance deck.

"Jack" he called out.

"Hey" she grunted. She was lying down on her bed, one arm behind her head, the other resting on her stomach. She looked up as Shepherd walked towards her. "What do you want now?"

"That's no way to greet your commanding officer" he smiled, leaning back and folding his arms.

"I'm not apologising. What do you want?"

 _"_ I wanna talk about you Jack"

She sat up, throwing her legs over the side of the bed, resting her back against the wall. "You're not going to take no as an answer are you?" she let out a sigh. "Fine, what do you want to know? The obvious stuff like the Ink? The hair? The clothes? Ask the questions and go"

"What i really want to know is why you're so distant. I'm standing here asking about you and you're trying to get me to leave"

"I don't exactly have the best history with people Shepherd" she growled, standing up as she did. "I've survived this far on my own and i sure as shit don't need you trying this therapy crap with me. It's not your style"

Shepherd took another step towards her, closing the distance between them to arms length. "I'm not trying to be a therapist. I like to know my crew, and there's a lot about you that i don't know. Hell, i starting to think nobody would know. "

"I've already told you, I've survived on my own for long enough to know that people will only ever do two things. Leave you or hurt you. It's better to be alone" her voice had become less aggressive. He could almost hear it breaking as she mumbled "When you let people in Shepherd, they either disappear or take advantage"

"I'm not here to take advantage of you Jack, and im sure as hell not going anywhere. I care about you, is that so hard to believe" Shepherd said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No-one ever cares Shepherd. Everyone's just in it for themselves" she snapped, throwing his hand off of her shoulder. "Look if this is just about sex then tell me and we can stop this bullshit and just do it" the venom in her voice very clear to the commander.

Shepherd just turned to walk away.

"Wait" he heard, stopping him in his tracks. He turned around to look at her, she was sitting back down on the bed now, looking at the ground. "You don't have to go, believe it or not for some reason i actually like you being here" Her voice was softer and quieter. Maybe he'd made a break through. Shepherd sat down on one of the crates opposite Jack.

"Did you find what you were looking for on those datapads?" he said, leaning forward slightly.

"I found out where the Cerberus facility i was held in it." Jack looked up at the commander, his eyes fixed on hers as she spoke. "I guess you already read through my file before you came to get me"

"Actually no, i just turned up when the Illusive man told me where to go. Why don't you start from the beginning"

"For a captain you seem to have a lot of free time to spend talking to your crew." A smile creeped onto her face, Shepherd hadn't seen her smile since he'd blown up three mercs back on Korlus. "Alright, Cerberus took me away from my parents when i was a kid. They put up a fight, they were executed." the lack of emotion in her voice was almost chilling. "I was taken to large facility, full of doctors, other kids, Cerberus soldiers. I didn't really know where it was at the time, i was just a little girl" Shepherd leaned forward further, listening intently. "They ran experiments on me and the other kids there. Tortured the ones who didn't comply."

Shepherds fists clenched as Jack continued. "They tortured kids" he said, through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, there wasn't much they didn't do to us while we were there." she nervously running her hand up and down her arm "I never had any friends there Shepherd. None of the other kids spoke to me. I'm used to being on my own, i guess thats why i push people away."

"Where did this happen?"

Jack picked up one of the several pads lying around her. "According to this, the 'Teltin Facility' is on Pragia.

* * *

"EDI..." Shepherd barked as he approached the debriefing room. "...Patch me through to the Illusive man" he stopped while the table lowered into the floor. He stepped into the light ring now surrounding the table. The Illusive man's figure appeared before him, sitting in his chair as per usual. Cigarette burning away in his hand.

"What can i do for your commander" he asked, oblivious to Shepherds intention.

"How about we start with Teltin" he snapped back.

"Shepherd..." The illusive man hesitated, calculating his words very deliberately "...i don't expect you to understand"

"You don't expect me to understand what? that torturing kids is a reasonable course of action to get what you want? Well no, you're fucking right. I don't understand. Give me _ONE_ good reason i shouldn't just turn all of this in to the Alliance." he shouted, he figured Mordin or Jacob might hear him, being that they were only next door. He didn't care. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this angry.

"Because Shepherd, they don't believe the reapers exist. They will arrest you and stand by and watch as human colonies all over the galaxy continue to get abducted." The illusive man responded, inhaling a lung full of his cigarette. "As far as Teltin goes, Cerberus closed that facility years ago. It was being run by a rogue faction. My conscience is clear on this."

"You can just sit there and deny all responsibility for what people were put through there? You make me sick. Once this mission is done the Alliance will hear about all of this."

"Shepherd, we are humanities only hope in stopping the collectors. Don't do anything stupid. We'll talk later"

The blue hologramatic image of the Illusive man disappeared and the lights came back on in the comms room.

Speakers in the room broadcast Jokers voice to the commander. " **Relay approximately 30 minutes out commander.** "

* * *

Shepherd approached the galaxy map in the CIC, he was reading through a datapad as he got there.

"Commander, you have a new message at your private terminal" Chambers called out to him, not looking up from her own work station.

"Thanks Kelly"

He was examining the list the Illusive man had given him for suggested team members. He dropped the pad down on the desk and looked at his terminal. It blinked on, the familiar bright orange light forcing his eyes to readjust slightly as he scanned the main screen.

[3 Unread Messages]

[1[Thank You]]

[2[Encrypted Message]]

[3[Curmender Shepred]]

He opened up message one. It was from the kid on omega. The one he'd stopped from joining the blue suns mercenary group. He smiled to himself as he read and deleted it. Message two was from the Illusive man. It contained a detailed report into the closure of the Teltin facility many years ago, probably before even Jack was there.

Intrigued by the blatant spelling errors he opened the last message, half expecting a confirmation of his subscription to Fornax magazine...again. Garrus had played that joke once before. The message read;

[Curmender Shepred - Thur is rumers thet yoo aer...] "EDI..." Shepherd called out, his eyes and brain hurting "...could you try and decipher this message please. I can't read it."

" **Certainly commander. I have transcribed what i believe to be the messages intended wording** "

He looked back at the screen and sure enough, it was now in legible english;

[Commander Shepherd - There is a rumour that you're back among the living. It gives me great pleasure in knowing that you didn't die on the Normandy. If you find yourself near Tuchanka then come and see me. We could go and hunt some Pyjaks. It will be just like old times. Your friend - Urdnot Wrex]

"Commander, Joker has just asked me to ask you where we are headed?" Kelly called over to him.

"Tuchanka" he said, looking up at her and smiling. "Also, tell Garrus where we're going, he'll be so excited".

Kelly nodded and began typing away at her keyboard.

Shepherd walked into the elevator and pressed the button for his quarters.

* * *

No sooner had Shepherd sat down in his room Jokers voice blared over the intercom.

" ** _Commander, Jack and Miranda are having a little err disagreement. Can you get involved before they tear out a bulkhead_** "

He sighed heavily before making his way back to the elevator. "I'm on it Joker"

" _ **Take pictures** "_

* * *

Shepherd started down the stairs into the sub deck of the maintenance department, he heard Jack shouting.

"You touch me and i will rip your fucking head off"

He heard a clang as something metal bounced off of one of the walls, he jumped down the last couple of steps. He could see Jack was surrounded by her biotic field as Miranda stood over the pile of datapads on the floor.

"Enough. Both of you" Shepherd shouted "What the hell is going on."

Jack spoke up first " The datapads you gave me, shes trying to take them back" taking a step towards Shepherd.

Miranda picked one of the pads up off of the floor "You shouldn't have been given access to them in the first place. That's not his decision."

"You just want to get rid of the evidence. What Cerberus did to me was wrong and you can't admit it" Jack fired back

"It wasn't Cerberus, not really" Miranda shouted back at them. "But clearly you were a mistake" she spat the last part, a look of disgust on her face.

"I've heard enough. You're out of line Miranda." Shepherd barked, pointing a finger at her.

"She's dangerous Shepherd, she will compromise the mission" Miranda replied, she must have realised she'd over stepped a mark because her tone had suddenly become a lot softer.

"Who i have on the mission is my business, not yours, not the Illusive Man. Mine. Jacks attitude has been just fine. Maybe you should check your own. Get back to your quarters now. That's an order."

Miranda never lifted her head to look at Shepherd or Jack as she walked past them like a scolded child. Making for the stairs out of the maintenance area.

"Thanks Shepherd" Jack looked back at him, a smile creeping onto her face.

"No problem" he replied "I spoke to the Illusive man about Teltin"

Her face dropped.

"What did he say?" she snapped.

"He said that Cerberus had nothing to do with that facility. It was being run by a rogue group of ex Cerberus scientists. It's all here..." he passed her a datapad. The message from the Illusive man, along with the attached documents to support his assertions.

"Well shit. I guess we wont get in trouble for doing it now." she grinned

"Doing what?" Shepherd asked, rocking back in his traditional arms crossed stance.

"I want to go to Pragia. I wanna plant a bomb right in the middle. Then i want to watch it blow from orbit" She hissed, her hands clenched, staring straight down at the ground.

"We're on our way to Tuchanka. Can it wait until we've done our business there?"

"It's your mission Shepherd, im not here to get in the way" She said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.

"I should go" he said, before turning to walk away.

"Good, I can't stand much more of your face anyway"

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around at her. A big grin on his face. "I think we both know that's not true" he whispered.

* * *

 **Ok so this Chapter took a while longer. I think writing on consecutive days can be a bit tricky.**

 **There's a decent number of people reading this. Please please please let me know what you think. PM, review, anything i don't mind. I love constructive criticism. Especially if it improves the end product.**

 **Not sure when Chapter 5 will be here, but i will be working on it. Don't fear! It will come.**


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